Category: Saturday Study

Saturday Study

The Spiritual Disciplines of Submission and Humility (7-15-17)

Mankind is known throughout our history not for our humility and submission but for our arrogance and pride.

Sin causes us to want to be like God and the lord of our own lives.  It causes us to disobey the authorities God has placed over us and to pridefully think of ourselves more then we should.  The spiritual disciplines of submission and humility are desperately needed to be a daily practice of the people of God. As disciples of Christ, our daily aim is to submit ourselves to His leadership and His word.  That is what a disciple is: a humble student who is listening to and learning from and submitting to the One we seek to be like.

Philippians 2:1-2 ¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  

Paul begins by reminding the church of the unity we have in Christ and with each other.  He is calling the church not to go at life alone but to pursue like-mindedness and unity in spirit and purpose.  We are not meant to do this life alone.  We will not make progress in growing in humility if we go at it alone.  It is first and foremost important that we know who we are in Christ and that we walk together in unity.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…  

Note Paul says, “Do nothing in PRIDE (self-centeredness).”  The prison of our PRIDE has us constantly thinking of how we promote ourselves, or make ourselves look good, or save face.

This reminds me of an old Groucho Marx scene: He is going on and on about himself with another guy, and then pauses to acknowledge the lopsidedness of the conversation, and turns to the other guy and says, “I am sorry, I have been talking about me all this time… Let’s talk about you!  What do you think about me?”

John Stott writes that PRIDE is more than the first of the seven deadly sins, “It is itself the essence of all sin.”

Why is PRIDE, or vanity the centerpiece of SIN?

1. It is “me-centered”
2. It is a direct challenge to God’s glory

Proverbs 6:16-17 There are six things the LORD hates…[first] haughty eyes

Proverbs 16:5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart.

Let’s take a deeper look at specifically what Paul says we are NOT to practice!

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit

1. Selfish Ambition

Ambition = the pursuit or activity of achieving something for oneself

These are the things we do, dream about, long for that all end up rewarding ourselves.  This is an endless maze that deteriorates all life.  Why?  When selfish ambition rules our lives, the goal of filling our own cups never end, because there is always something better out there, or something to improve or have more of.

Be honest.  How often do you find yourself looking for ways to take your current circumstances and wishing they were “better”? So if you are living with your parents, the improvement for you is to rent a cheap apartment.  Once you have your own place, the improvement is to have some cool amenities.  Once you have a cool apartment, the improvement is to “own” a house.  Once you have a house, the improvement is to have cooler stuff that your house can do or to fill your house with.  Once you have a cool house, you want a bigger house.  Then a house in a better neighborhood.  And on and on.  We always are looking to make “MINE” bigger and better!

Now here is how bad it is: take your current living situation and place it in the middle of the raw ghetto.  If you are really honest, your pride says, “Oh, but I can’t live here!  My property value is diminished. My neighbors are dirty and trashy.”

The modern mindset of SELFISH AMBITION has us a long way away from the modeled humble life of Jesus!  Jesus had little more than the sandals on His feet and the robe on His back. Our selfish ambition is a dangerous poison.   In the end, it’s really a cup with a big hole in it that we keep trying to fill!

Do you realize that selfish ambition is completely based on how you are doing next to the other guy?  We feel good when ours is better, and we feel worse when other’s is better.   We actually, deep down, celebrate when others fall behind us and complain when others seem to be doing better.  It’s a race, a never-ending competition!  The truth is, you can Increase your humility if you are willing to decrease your comparisons.

2. Vain Conceit

Let’s look at vain conceit, or more specifically, empty glory!  Empty glory is the need to be honored–the need to be lifted up. It is our need to be noticed and enjoyed and loved and our need to feel important.

Empty glory is a form of “secular” self-esteem.  In it, we position ourselves around people who will flatter us with compliments that highlight our strengths and will withhold comments that point out our weaknesses. This brings us into a place of feeling entitled, deserving, and important.

But let’s stop and observe something: People who live with this high self-esteem based on the world are often

• more judgmental
• critical of others
• whiney
• more showy
• likely to use relationships only long enough to advance themselves
• likely to struggle entering into relationships because they view themselves as above the rest.  No one seems to meet their criteria of worthy.

Is this who you want to be?

On the contrary, those with a humble self-regard are people most of us long to be around.  They are people who tend to be

• team players
• more understanding
• the kind of person you can simply kick back with and enjoy the moment!

WHY?  Because the moment doesn’t have to be about them.   This is also the kind of person that tends to be more compassionate and a more loyal friend.

So why is it that society so often chases after the self-centered person?   The famous, the glory hogs, the pretty and the popular?  Why is it that we look at humility as weak and needy and wimpy, when in fact the people we like the most are humble people?  Let’s look at humility!

Philippians 2:3b-4 but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

What is humility? 

John Calvin wrote, “It is evident that one never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”  A biblical worldview of humility would then be: Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in the light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Another definition: Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.

Another definition:  Humility is being exactly who God made you to be.

Pride looks to attract the attention of others.  Humility attracts the attention of God!   Isaiah 66:2 “…This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

James 4:6-10  Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

So, how does one move from me-centered to other-centered?  From vain, selfish, and prideful to serving, loving, and humble?  You might be saying to yourself, “Someone show me how to get off this merry-go-round.”  There is one who can clearly show us, inspire us, and make it possible for us to be humble: Jesus!

Philippians 2:5-8 ⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature  God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 


To kill the poison of pride we have to embrace a life in humility.  This is only attainable if we are healed and redefined by JESUS!

Instead of SELF esteem,  we need to esteem IN Christ alone!

The amazing grace of Jesus is His humility in saving us.  Jesus gave up His esteem in order to give you a lasting esteem in Him. What we have spent our entire lives running from–the feeling of not being noticed, the possibility of not getting picked, the horrible feeling of not being loved–Jesus ran straight toward!  The only way to look away from self so that you can truly look towards others is to first look to JESUS!

The Good News is God the Son humbled Himself to put on flesh and walk among us; to be ridiculed by us.  Because of His humility, He didn’t stand up and level us with His wrath.  His choose to FREE us with His sacrifice.

God humbled Himself

• for the corporate executives, for the glamour queens;
• for the arrogant husbands and the vain wives;
• for the “always judging back-talkers” and the “stubborn in their ways” dominators;
• for those who use their bodies to be noticed and those who use their minds to make others feel dumb;
• for those who use money to buy power and those who use their skills to remind others they fall short.

Jesus humbled Himself to death so we could finally be humbled in the gift of life!  How can you and I be liberated from the dominating power of the world’s empty definitions of greatness?  JESUS!  How can you and I experience the lasting joy of being fully known and still fully loved?  JESUS!  How can you and I experience the satisfaction of Christ’s definition of who we are and no longer seek after the world’s definitions that never leave us satisfied?  JESUS!

Philippians 2:1 says, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ…”  In Christ.  What does it mean to be “united with Christ” or better yet to be “IN CHRIST?”  It essentially means that you have given up your pursuit of your significance, your dreams, your success, your need to prove yourself to God, and you have taken on Christ’s significance, His dreams, His success!  It means what is true of Jesus is true of you.  You have received Christ. You are IN CHRIST!

What was Christ’s success?  Look at verses 9-11:

Philippians 2:9-11 ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If you are united to Him, you are destined to GLORY!  So, let’s stop the self–centered pursuit of empty glory and pride and CLOTHE ourselves in humility!

Humility paves the way for submission.  You will not practice the spiritual discipline of submission if you are not truly humble.

Sinful pride says, “My way is better than your way. I don’t care who you are.  I will do what I want to.”

We are all at some level under the authority of another: a boss, pastor/elders, parents…

So, how are you doing and showing humility and submission to those whom the Lord has put over you?

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Our witness of the gospel is many times best on display when we show humble submission to those put over us.   It is joyful submission that says, “<y identity and my joy is not in found in getting my way; it is found in Christ alone.  Therefore, I will joyfully submit to the authorities in my life.”  Submission is not weak or second class.  It is modeled for us by the Lord Himself.

Luke 22:41-42 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

In the greatest crossroads of Jesus earthly life, with an incomprehensible weight before Him, Jesus humbly submits to the will of the Father.  His flesh wants nothing to do with the suffering before Him, but His spirit rightly surrenders to the perfect will of God the Father.  This is huge for us.  Our flesh will often want to reject what we are being asked to do by those over us, but the fruit of the Spirit in us should cause us to joyfully and humbly submit.

Finally, for you who are leaders, overseers, managers, and/or parents, we can take away great counsel in God’s instruction for the shepherds of His flock:

1 Peter 5:1-11  So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

May we who lead do so humbly and faithfully, not for our own selfish interest but for the good of those we lead and the glory of the One we serve.   We will mature so much and our testimony in Christ will be so bright if we will truly practice the spiritual disciplines of humility and submission.  May God be honored and exalted in and through us as we do.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

The Spiritual Disciplines of Confession & Repentance (7-8-17)

The spiritual disciplines of confession and repentance are critical to the life of the Christian.  Luther said this well in his first of the 95 theses he posted on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany thereby beginning the Protestant Reformation. His first thesis reads, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”  Luther was clarifying that all of the Christian life is repentance. Turning from sin and taking up a new path in light of the gospel is not something we only did the day God gave us saving faith, but is a daily practice of the Christian life.

Also, confession and repentance are dealt with together in this week’s reading and lesson because they need always go together.  They are also often misunderstood or confused for one another.  So, it is important that we do some work today to rightly understand these vital disciplines of the Christian life.

First, let’s talk about confession!

The root word of the word confession means “to agree together with”.   Confession is admittance, but it is an admittance that agrees with God that something is what it is.  When we confess, we are saying, “I am not lying to myself or you about this. I am admitting it is what it is”. So, confession is simply acknowledging, “I have sinned”!  It is agreeing with God or the judge you are standing before that you did it.  You are guilty. You are not trying to paint a story on it or make it something it is not.

It is standing before God or another person and declaring, “This was sin. You call it sin. I am calling it sin. I am saying out loud… I sinned!”

Because our sin is deceiving and our flesh wants to live in the dark and in lies, it is super important that a blood-bought Christian wants to expose their sin to the light- to be honest about what has happened or is happening and to bring it into the light by declaring it what it really is, sin!   Seeing our sin for what it is is the very first thing God blesses us with in our salvation.  We do not see how desperate we are for the good news of Jesus Christ without first seeing the depth of our sin and admitting that we are indeed sinful and needing a savior.  This practice of having a right and honest view of our sin is a critical practice because anytime we are tempted or guilty of hiding our sin or making excuses for our sin, we are not honoring God with our life and walking in God-honoring righteousness.

1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We need to be regular in admitting our sin before the Lord. Do you practice confession regularly?  Don’t forget when you are confessing sin to God that you are already forgiven.  God has forgiven your past, present and future sins. You are forgiven fully in the blood of Jesus, but you must practice confession.  This is how we make war with our sin.

Another way we can fight our sin is to bring it into the light by confessing our sins to a brother in the Lord.

James 5:16 Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

The accountability this brings is an extra way we fight our sin.  If we keep it to ourselves, we can often get used to making excuses, but when we invite others in, we build an army to help us in our fight against sin.  Who do you go to when you are fighting sin and need to confess your struggle or error?  We all need people who can walk with us in this way.  Do you have any sin that needs to be confessed right now? Go to God in prayer and confess it and thank Him that he has forgiven you and given you the power in the gospel to not do it anymore.  Additionally, go to a trusted friend in Christ and confess it to them.  Ask them to hold you accountable to not do it again and to be upright in facing whatever right consequences are before you.

Before we move onto repentance, understand that a right view of our sin is what makes our love and worship for our savior so sweet.  If we have a weak view of our sin, we will have a weak view of our need for a savior.

It was Baptist Preacher Charles Spurgeon who said it so well, “he that thinks lightly of sin, thinks lightly of the savior.”

The reason why confession is so important is that it leads to repentance.  You can’t practice repentance without true confession.

If confession is admittance (to agree together with God who knows already what really happened),

repentance is a new direction!  It is surrendering your current wrong path to get on the right one.

Repentance is taking up a new path in light of the gospel.  Christ in us means we walk by faith and in righteousness. It means we honor God with our lives.  The problem is that we are still at war with sin until he takes us home to be with him in glory.  Since we are at war with sin and are consistently being sanctified and matured in our faith, we will need to take up new practices in light of the gospel along the way.  So, when we identify sin in our life we need to confess it and then turn from it.  We need to take up a new path or practice that honors God.   Confession is something we say.  Repentance is something we do.

When Jesus says that the prodigal son “Came to his senses” in Luke 15:17, it means he “gathered himself again”.

It means he stopped the pursuit of sin and turned in a new direction.   Repentance starts when you come to your senses!

If sin is the act of running from God, repentance is running to God and doing what honors God.

Our lost world defines repentance as something only the weak need to do.  The world says, repentance is an experience of disempowerment.  But, the Christian sees that it is necessary in everything– that it is actually a sign of strength.

Think about how strong you must be to repent at the drop of a hat…

To be able to say, “I was wrong” and “I will do it different”.   This takes courage and humility.

The weak thing is to just keep running down a road you know leads you to failure because you are too lazy or prideful to admit you were wrong.

2 Cor. 7:10 says, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

Now, we need to be careful that we are not repentant only because we are sorry for the consequences of the sin. This is a confession and repentance only because you got caught.  True repentance will not happen in this because without a remorse for what we did and not just that we got caught, we will do that very sin again the moment we think we can have it without getting caught.  This is not truly taking a new path. It is just tossing the car in park for a few and waiting for the right opportunity to continue down the same path. 

When John the Baptist says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” in Matthew 3:1-2, he is saying repent in light of the gospel.

It is a new life or practice with the King and for the King!  It is a new life even while still on earth.

Repentance is how you remember who you really are in Christ!

You are a child of the living God once an enslaved sinner who has been set free by grace to honor God with your life.

May we truly embrace the practice of honest confession and active repentance so that we are like the justified tax collector and not the excluded Pharisee in Luke 18:10-14.  The Pharisee was prideful in his self-righteousness, but the tax collector was broken in his sin before God and confessed and cried for mercy.   Jesus says that he is the one who was exalted in the end.

Finally, may we see that one of the signs of a true Christian is that you always repent.  It is not an option for a Christian to not repent.  The prideful person who refuses to repent is the one who is cast out of the church in discipline for their testimony doesn’t glorify God, but only themselves.   The person who claims Christ and yet goes on sinning without repentance proves to not be in Christ for the true Christ follower will always look to honor God and turn from sin when that sin becomes evident.

I pray that this lesson is one you keep and read again.  This is an area of Christian life we cannot afford to miss or get wrong not only for ourselves, but because it affects the testimony that we claim in Christ.   May we confess every day and never be done repenting until the Lord calls us home.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Proverbs 9 (7-1-17)

An Invitation to Wisdom:

Proverbs 9:1-6 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.

2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

3 She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town,

4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says,

5 “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

6 Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

Chapter 9 opens with the proclamation and presence of Wisdom.  She is very real and is inviting all who will heed her instruction.

It is the simple and the lazy that stay in their ignorance and limited understanding.  Wisdom says, “Come and eat and drink and live and walk in the way of insight.”  This may seem somewhat trivial, but I encourage you to not overlook how central this need is for many of us.  All too many days we opt for routines that do not grow us or mature our faith. We just punch the time card of life and do not make time to hear wisdom’s call.  God has blessed us so much with this holy and life changing word.  Let it be our great source for wisdom and a light in this dark world.  Let us now settle for a half lit, dim room to live in but the light that makes all things new and helps us walk in a manor worthy of our holy God.

Sin vs. Wisdom

Proverbs 9:7-16 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.

8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

11 For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.

12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

It is amazing to see the blindness of the unrepentant sinner.  He is so blind and foolish that he will literally turn away helpful rebuke and wise counsel.  In contrast, the wise man loves reproof and instruction.  The righteous man who is the Lord’s will desire to increase in learning and sound doctrine.   We must have a right fear of the Lord and not just accept any man’s teaching in the name of Jesus but check it against the Scriptures and sound doctrine.  We must be diligent to test the words of even angels.  Paul says for if they bring another gospel it is not the true gospel, and they are accursed (Gal 1:8).

We must hold fast to God’s word so  we are matured in wisdom and faith, that “we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes”  (Eph 4:14).  Instead, God’s people, the righteous, will pursued godly wisdom, and they will be blessed.

The Woman Folly

Proverbs 9:13-16 The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.

14 She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,

15 calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,

16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says,

In Proverbs 8 and the beginning of 9, Wisdom is famously personified as a lady who calls out for the simple to sit at her feet and learn from her righteous words. But as wisdom has an enemy which is foolishness, Lady Wisdom is also shown to have a personified antagonist, and her name is Folly; we meet her here in Proverbs 9:13–18.

She is loud! This is no surprise, because all too often the ignorant or foolish are good at running their mouths!

Often people who love to talk are limited in what they know because they are so busy talking that they are slow to listen and learn.  In chapter 10 we will meet the “babbling fool” and the destruction that he brings (10:8). Fools, we read, love to flaunt their folly (13:16). This is the picture that Proverbs 9 paints of Woman Folly, giving us the image of one who says a lot but has very little to offer that is good.

As the negative counterpart to Lady Wisdom, Woman Folly also calls out for men and women to heed her. But Woman Folly is guilty of manipulating her audience; we see signs of this in her positioning herself at the “highest places of the town” (9:14). She is selling something that is empty.  It is a lie.  Who will fall into her trap?  Who will embrace the way of the fool?  The one who is all talk and no lasting action for anything good.

We were made by God to live by divine wisdom, but in Adam (the federal head of mankind), we forfeited our precious birthright and enslaved ourselves to the sin of foolishness. Only true and lasting wisdom—Jesus Christ Himself—can set us free.

1 Corinthians 1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Proverbs 9:17-18  “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

18 But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

In these last verses, the Woman Folly is paired with sexual immorality. The description of stolen water and bread eaten in secret are images of inappropriate sexual relations.  Forbidden relationships seem to tap into the hope of love and companionship, but they bring destruction, death, and demise.  The consequence for this kind of endeavor is false promises and death. Only Lady Wisdom, the personification of what God has revealed as truth, is right and will bring us life.

What we have to see is that in our sin, we are all prone to chase after folly, because our flesh believes its false promises. Let us take care to guard our hearts and seek God’s truths and biblical wisdom. May we find our identity, hope, and standing in Christ alone.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

The Spiritual Discipline of Chastity/Purity (6-24-17)

Genesis 2:24-25 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

There is an intimacy described here …. a joining of two lives to become one that is unlike any other in creation.

God’s design for a man and his wife to become one flesh and to be naked and unashamed is a beautiful and priceless thing. The problem is that sin and society have really stolen God’s intention for Marital intimacy and made what is sacred impure and common in sin.

The world’s agenda when it comes to sex is to profane it.

Profane = to make it common!   To treat something sacred with Irreverence.

So profanity comes form the word profane.    So when we say “Oh God” in just a flippant common way ..instead of exalting his name… and worshipping the true God .. we use it as a casual response to life and make it common.  Or we use it as a swear word to illustration the emotion of disgust.   Like… “Jesus Christ”.   This is to profane the Lord’s name.

This is what our culture does with God’s design for sex and marital intimacy and God honoring modesty.  The world wants to remove all mystery and holiness and sacredness and selflessness and make it common & casual.   They want to take purity and what Honors God and exchange it for what ever satisfies man’s flesh.

Our culture wants to make sex  simply about physiology and biology.  And so we they teach it to our kids in sex ED it is all about mechanics. We have been convinced by our culture that they get it and we don’t.   This is why for far to many people they are captured buy the world’s casual, mechanical, free market idea of sex.   I believe this is one reason why so many struggle with pornography.  Many have come to believe that it is purely mechanical and therefore harmless and acceptable.

But what we have to do is see that all of what God only intended to be enjoyed or seen or experienced in a committed marriage is undone when seen or experienced outside of marriage.   This is the reason for modesty and purity and chastity.  The goal must be to honor God and keep our minds and bodies pure in devotion and worship of him.

We have to understand that Sexual Intimacy is more then the physical.  The heart is so involved.

The emotional and spiritual scars that sex & intimacy outside of your marriage brings is as deep as it gets.  And I have never seen anything in my years of counseling to be more true.

1 Corinthians 6:18 says, “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.”

When the bible is so specific in it’s warning against impurity and immodesty we need to slow down and really consider God’s will and ways so that we can have a spiritual disciplined life in this area.

According to the Bible, sexual intimacy was God’s creation.  The Bible starts by revealing that God made us male & female with bodies built for sexual pleasure within the context of marriage.   Not a Man/Man Or Woman/Woman or Man/Goat.  Their bodies are not built to do what God gave for Man & Woman to do in Marriage during sex for the multiplication of the human race.

Further, God’s design was not a man and a woman who are not committed for life in marriage.   Look with me…

Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:24-25 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Sex is not for love…   Sex is not for Commitment    Sex and intimacy is for Marriage!

What this means is that intimacy and nudity is only to be enjoyed between a husband and his wife.  Everything outside of that must be modest and pure in order to honor God with our thoughts and actions.    Because God’s design for sexual intimacy is so potent the reality is any engagement with these things outside of marriage can be extremely damaging to ones life.

The analogy I find that helps us understand this goes like this:

A big burning fire in your fireplace is a wonderful gift of warmth and comfort and beautiful sight in your home.  But that fire burning anywhere else in your home other then the fireplace is utterly destructive and damaging to your home and life.

This is the case for sexuality and nudity.  Within the context of the covenant of marriage it is a wonderful gift and God honoring. Outside of marriage it is damaging and God dishonoring.

So, this means we are to be pure and modest in every other circumstance.

The way we dress should not be revealing anything that God intended to be private and for marriage.  The way we talk should be pure and God honoring and not making what God designed to be sacred and make it common or casual.

The reality is: we live in a lost world that has a true and aggressive agenda to take all that God made holy and pure and profane it.  I can’t watch regular television with my kids anymore not even because the programming might be compromised but because the commercials are often explicit and profaned.  Just about everywhere we look we are inundated with sexuality and immodest images.    Song lyrics have come a long way from Elvis Presley and even the entertainers of a few decades ago. We have to practice the discipline of modesty and purity in the most practical ways.  The shows we watch or the music we listen to should keep our mind and eyes pure and not defraud our spirit unto sexual immorality.  IF Social media is introducing compromise then we should have a discipline to step out of that environment in order to keep our mind and spirit focused on the Lord and not the temptations of the world.  What are you doing to practice purity and modesty?  What are you doing to fight in this area of life and very real temptation.

When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 that “the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”  We must realize that how we use our hands, our eyes and our minds is of the upmost importance in honoring our Lord.

He goes on to clarify that, You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your life. 1 Cor. 6:19-20

Paul continues his plea with those who belong to God in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

When emphasizing that we “ought to walk and to please God…for this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,  not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God….For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.  Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

The scriptures are clear that how we conduct ourselves.  Our thinking, our looking, our actions must honor God.  But how do we do this in a land full of sexual immoral people, images, songs, movies?   We fight.  Meaning we work hard..  Paul goes so far to say run away.  In other words when you see immodesty on the horizon we run the other direction.  We don’t put ourselves in those environments where temptation will be ramped up.  We keep our families from these places too.  This means a real and consistent effort to screen what they have access to.   I am praying for you as you consider this spiritual discipline and that you make a true effort to be accountable and sanctified in this area.  There is simply to much at stake to take it lightly.

God is worthy of all of our lives.  Let us honor him with them.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Proverbs 8 (6-17-17)

As we begin in Proverbs 8:1-12, we read about the poetic personification of wisdom, which gives us a visual of all of the benefits of valuing and heeding truth.  In a world shaped and ruled by lies, the call of wisdom should be to us like the sound of an approaching ship when we are lost at sea.

Do you value wisdom?  Do you value truth?

Do you want to know what is right?  Are you tired of being deceived and lied to?  Then hear wisdom’s call.

Run to truth and righteousness.  Leave behind deceit and dishonorable things.  Pursue what is right and good and God-honoring.  Run and don’t walk.

I love the simple but often overlooked point of verse 13.

It says,

“The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” –Proverbs 8:13

To side with God–to be on His team–is to hate evil.  The Lord is righteousness.  How can light mix with darkness?  How can we who are of the light desire or befriend what is evil?  Do you have a passive acceptance of evil, or do you rightly detest what is evil and what stands against our holy God?

Do you make war with your pride and arrogance, because to not make war with them is to walk in a manner that God hates? Do you tolerate and enjoy perverted speech?  To do this is to embrace something that God hates.  How can we who are in the light embrace the darkness?   Brothers, we are to fight sin and to hate evil.  We are not to be afraid to call sin “sin” in our modern, politically correct day.  May we be set apart and not embrace or enjoy the ways of evil while we love our enemy for the sake of our gospel testimony and God’s glory.

Reading on in Proverbs 8:14-21, we see a list of rewards for truth’s manifestation in our life.  God rewards honorable living. It points out here that wisdom is what sets us apart as the victorious and the honored.

Do we value truth knowing we will be honored for eternity?  Our prize in this harsh land may be persecution and ridicule, but our eternal prize is what the people of God want and pursue.

Now, the imagery used in verses 22-31 is very special. It is a proclamation of wisdom to say that the Lord God wielded wisdom and truth form before there was time.  The very existence of God, the very perfection and power of God, is wisdom and truth.  Then the beautiful and majestic display of the handiwork of God in creation is on display, and they are all done in wisdom and truth.

Just read Proverbs 8: 22-31 again.  Let if draw you into worship of God, for He is good and worthy of our praise.  This is what John the Beloved was getting at in the opening verse of the Gospel of John.

Jesus who is truth and wisdom is referred to as “the Word.”  I want you to see how core Jesus is to this reality for us.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Who is one John refers to as “the Word”?

To help us answer this, we look to the opening statement in Hebrews: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

Here we learn that Jesus is the spokesman of the Godhead.  Jesus, the son of God, is the Word.

Also in Revelation 1:8, a title declared of Jesus is “I am Alpha and Omega,” which intimates that He is God’s alphabet, the One who spells out Deity, the One who utters the word of God.

Even clearer, perhaps, is the testimony of John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

John calling Jesus “the Word” is his way of declaring this biblical truth that Jesus is the Spokesman of God and the One who has declared or told forth the Godhead.

-A “word” is a form of manifestation. If I have a thought and it is only in my mind, others so not know what it is, right? But the moment I put form and body to the thought in words, written or spoken, that thought now becomes revelation that is known by others.

I want you to stop and consider the mind-blowing reality that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us by speaking His word.  He does this through Christ who is referred to as the Word.

Jesus has made manifest the invisible God to us is a most special way.

-I want us to stop and really take in the game changing reality that the eternal God of all creation has chosen to reveal Himself to us by communicating with us by the word, Jesus.

We do not deserve this.

Think about what you know about how Christ has revealed God to us! Christ, as the Word, reveals the attributes and perfections of God. He displayed His power, He manifested His wisdom, He exhibited His holiness, He made known His grace, He unveiled His heart.  In Christ, like nowhere or nothing else, is God revealed to us.   This is what the Apostle Paul is getting at in Colossians 1:15: “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God.”  Paul, right away, is showing us this huge, game changing truth.

God has made himself known–visible–by His Word: Jesus Christ.

A “word” is an expression: by words we articulate our speech. The Word of God, then, is the Deity expressing Itself in audible terms.   What we need to see is that this is not just any word of expression but THE WORD from THE LIVING GOD.   In other words, it is the very source of all TRUTH and wisdom and life!!

John calls Jesus the Word because he had come to see the words of Jesus as the truth of God and the person of Jesus as the truth of God in such a unified way that Jesus Himself—in his coming, and working, and teaching, and dying and rising—was the final and decisive Message of God.

Or to put it more simply: What God had to say to us was not only or mainly what Jesus said, but who Jesus was and what He did. His words clarified Himself and His work.

The person and words and work of Jesus is God revealing that He is the TRUTH!

Track with me here to gather the power of this:

Jesus said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

Jesus came to witness to the truth (John 18:37).

His witness and His person were the Word of truth.

He said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31), and he said, “Abide in me” (John 15:7). When we abide in Him, we are abiding in the Word. He said that His works were a “witness” about Him (John 5:36; 10:25). In other words, in His working, He was the Word.

In Revelation 19:13 (by the same author as this Gospel), John describes Jesus’ glorious return: “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.”

Jesus is called The Word of God as He returns to earth.

Two verses later John says, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword” (Revelation 19:15).

This is how Jesus will strike the nations: in the power of the word of God that He speaks!

May we see Jesus as the ultimate manifestation of wisdom and truth.  He is God.  He is light. He is truth.

May we long for and worship Him above all else.  May the wisdom we seek not be only that of man but more, far more.  May it be the highest revelation of wisdom and truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. The WORD.

THE TRUTH.  THE LIFE!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church